Carpet sweeper



Aug. 3 1926.

F, J. OSIUS CARPET SWEEPER Filed May 8. 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 @iff/bou my Patented Aug. 3, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK il'. OSIUS, OF RACINE, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR T0 HAMILTONl BEACH MFG. C0., OF RACINE, WISCONSIN, A CORPORATION 0I' WISCONSIN.

CARPET SWEEPER.

Applicationv filed May 8, 1922. Serial No. 559,198'.

This invention relates to carpet sweepers and has for its principal object to provide a power-driven sweeper in which the power yis supplied by a motor which may be readily and quickly attached to or removed from the sweeper, whereby the same motor may bel employed for performing work of different characters about the house.

A further object of the invention is to provide a sweeper of the character described in which the power may be sup lied by a motor which is relatively so smal as to be ordinarily incapable of performing the work required of it in this connection.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a brush construction whereby this said small motor maybe eiiciently employed for driving the sweeper mechanism without sacrificing any7 of the eiiicieney of the, motor.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a special construction whereby the motor may be readily attached tov and detached from the sweeper in order that it may be employed for other purposes.

With these and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention consists in the novel details of construction and combinations of parts more fully hereinafter disclosed and particularly pointed out in the claims.

The use of electrical household appliances has developed very rapidly within t e past few years until it has reached the point where substantially all of the work which was formerly manually performed is now accomplished by means of electrically operated mechanisms. There are upon the market today several forms of small electric motors whichare especially adapted forA driving sewing machines. Suchv machines require comparatively little power and the lnotors are consequently relatively small and compact, while at the same time, being sufiicientlyl powerful to accomplish the result for which they are designed and built.

The present invention contemplates the employment of a motor suchas this for the purpose of driving the brush mechanism of a carpet swee er. The frictional en agement of the or inary sweeper brush wit ytho carpet or other surface which is being cleaned, is ordinarily so great as t0 make it impossible to employ a small motor of the character above described in'this connection, inasmuch as the said motor is not suiiclently powerful to overcome the friction developed between the brush and the carpet.

However, by employing the new brush construction, constituting a part of this in- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a carpetsweeper constructed in accordance with the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a portion of the bail and handle of the sweeper illustrating the method of readily attaching and detaching the motor therefrom. i f

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional'view, partly in elevation through one of the lugs or bosses provided upon the bail, shown in Figs. 1 and 2, for receiving and supporting the motor.

y Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view, partly in elevation, taken approximately on the plane indicated by the line 4-4 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows; and

Fig. 5` is a transverse vertical sectional view, 'taken approximately on the plane indicated by the line 5--5 of Fig. 4.

In the said drawings, the numeral 1 indicates a casing or housing of sheet metal or other suitable construction, which may be provided with the reinforcing end members 2, secured to the ends thereof, which mem# bers are provided with Ithe bosses 3 upon which is pivotally mounted the bail 4:, having the socket 5 rigid therewith and adapted to receive the` handle 6. The said casing or housing 1 is provided with an inlet opening 7 extending substantially the full width of .the machine, as will be clear from Figs. 4

and`5, and also with an outlet opening 8, disposed at approximately 180 degrees from the saidinlet o ening 7.

One end of t e usual fabric o1'. other bag 9 is connected to the sai d outlet opening 8j for the purpose 0f .renewing the dirt and.l

other material which is removed from the carpet or other surface being swept, the other end of which bag is closed and may be resiliently supported from the upper portion of the handle 6 by means of the coil spring 10, see Fig. 1. The casing 1 is preferably mounted on suitable wheels or rollers 11, journalled upon the end members 2.

The handle socket 5 of the bail 4 is provided with a recessed boss or lug 12 extending at substantially right angles to the axis of the said socket member 5, the recess 13 of which is preferably circular in form. and is lined with a rubber or other suitable resilient lining 14, see Fig. 3.

The said recess 13 and rubber cup member 14 are adapted to receive the cylindrical bearing 15 of the motor 16. The said bearing 15 is provided with an angularly extending lug 17 which is drilled to provide an oil well for the motor shaft, which well is normally closed by means of a plug or cap 18. The said oil well lug 17 fits into a recess or indentation 19, provided in the edge of the lug or boss 12, as will be clear from Figs. 2 and 3, thereby preventing the rotation of the field frame of the motor 16, when the parts are in the positions illustrated.

The bail 4 is also provided with a rigid upwardly extending arm 20, the upper end of which is bifurcated to provide the fingers 21 partially enclosing the slot or recess 22, which is adapted to receive the bearing extension 23 with which the opposite end of the motor 16 is provided.

The shaft 24 of the said motor is provided with a pulley 25, and the parts are so designed and constructed that the said pulley 25 will be in substantial alinement with a pulley 26, mounted upon the brush shaft 27 of the sweeper. The pulley 26 may be driven from the said pulley 25 by means of the belt'28, which is preferably formed of rubberor other suitable flexible material.

The shaft 27 extends through and is journalled in theend members 2 of the casing or housing 1, as will be cear from Fig. 4, and carries the` sweeper brush 30, the peculiar construction of which, as was above stated, permits the use of the relatively small motor.v

This brush construction comprises a pair of oppositely disposed brush members 31, which are pivotally secured to the shaft 27 by means of the plurality of pairs of arms 32. These said arms 32 are pivoted to the said shaft 27 as at 33 and are likewise pivoted to the brush heads 34 as at 35.

The coil spring 36 is secured to the brush heads 34 intermediate the said levers 32, as will be clear from Fig. 4, and tends normally to draw the said brush members ltowards the said shaft.- The strength of the said spring issochosen, however. that the centrifugal.act-ion,l due to the rotation of the brush` members by the motorl, will overcome the said spring and will cause the brush members to move outwardly from their position. as illustrated in Fig. 4, thereby causing the tips of the brushes 31 to engage with the carpet or other surface which is being cleaned, as will be readily apparent. lVhen this outward movement takes place the arms 32 will swing about their pivots 33, thereby permitting the said brushes to move outwardly, at the same time connecting them to the shaft 27, whereby rotation may be imparted to them.

This outward or radial movement of the brushes 31, as was above stated, will bring their ends into contact with the carpet or other surface which is being cleaned, and inasmuch as they are bein rotated in a clockwise direction, as seen in Fig. 5, the dust,

lint, and dirt, which are present upon they carpet will be forced u wardly withinthe casing 1, and out throug the outlet passage or opening 8 and into the receiving bag 9 in the usual manner.

As the brushes engage the surface of the carpet under the action of the centrifugal force, due to their rotation, their frictional engagement therewith will be so great as to partially overcome the force of the motor 16 with the result that the speed of the said motor will be lowered. As soon as this occurs, the centrifugal force, acting to throw the brushes 31 outwardly, will be reduced and the spring 36 will draw them inwardly toward the shaft 27. Y

This inwardmovement will, of course, reduce the frictional engagement of the brushes with the carpet or other surface,

whereupon the motor 16 will again speed up and the centrifugal force will again throw the brush members outwardly. ment of the brush members acts as an automatic control or governor whereby when the motor 16 speeds up suiliciently to cause the centrifugal force to throw the brush members 31 outwardly to such an extent as to cause their frictional engagement with the carpet to become too great, the motor speed will be automatically reduced, whereupon the brush members will be drawn inwardly again by means of the spring 36 thereby reducing their frictional engagement with the carpet, and permitting the motor to again speed up.

Y It will be obvious that after the motor has in places or is otherwise uneven se :that the This `movefrictional engagement of the brush members therewith is varied either above or below this oint of substantial equilibrium the said mem erswill either move inwardly or outwardly to compensate therefor in the manner above described.

It is also obvious that since the brush members are in their innermost positions when the motor is started and therefore are entirely out of contact with the carpet or other surface that the said motor willstart under practically no load, thus permitting it to attain its normal speed in a relatively short time, without danger of overloading the same.` Of course as the motor` speeds up the brush members will be moved outwardly, as above explained, until they contact with the surface of the carpet, whereupon their frictional engagement therewith will serve to automatically position them in the substantial state of equilbrium above mentioned. y

These features, as above pointed out, are very important, inasmuch as they permit of the use of the relatively small sewing machine motors, which are not powerful enough to normally operate a device of this character.

The motor 16 may be supplied with current by means of the usual cord 40, which current is controlled by means of a switch 41.mounted within' the handle 6 at a convenient point. The said motor, as is usual in this type, is provided with brush control handles 42, whereby the position of the motor brushes may be shifted to control the speed thereof to a certain extent and to also reverse the direction of rotation of the motor armature.

The said motor is also provided with a base'43, whereby it may be mounted upon a sewing machine or other appliance when not in use upon the sweeper. In order to remove the motor from the sweeper it is only necessary to disconnect the belt 28, whereupon the left hand end of the motor, as seen in Figs. l and 2, may be moved upwardly, thereby withdrawing the bearing extension 23 from the slot 22 and permitting the extension 15 to be withdrawn from the socket 13 of the lug or boss 12.

It is Obvious that those Skilled in the art may vary the details of construction, as well as the arrangement of parts without de arting from the spirit of the invention, t erefore it is not wished to be limited to the contact with the surface to be cleaned, and

a small motor for rotating said brush and causing 1t to engage the surfe to be cleaned, the en agement of said brush with the surface being cleaned controlling the speed of said motor.

2. In a carpet sweeper provided with a casing, a brush normally out of contact with the surface to be cleaned and ex ansible to engage the surface being oleane and a small motor removably mounted on saidcasing for rotating said brush to maintain the working engagement with the surface ,being cleaned within the capacity of the motor.

3. A carpet sweeper comprising a casing having an inlet opening, a small electric motor carried thereby, and an expansible brush within the casing extending into the inlet openin said brush bein normall out of contact with the surface to e cleane and being rotated by the motor and moved into operative engagement with the surface to be cleaned by expansion when the brush is rotated at a predetermined speed, and lessening contact with said surface when the speed of rotation is less than the predetermined speed, to maintain the work performed within the capacity of the motor.

4. A carpet sweeper comprising a casing, having an inlet opening, a small electric motor carried thereby, and an expansible brush within the casing and normally out of contact with the surface to be cleaned and rotated by the motor and extending into the inlet opening to engage the surface to be cleaned,l there being a centrifugal action of the brush for causing the brush to engage ythe surface being cleaned, and a contractile means for causing said brush to lessen its engagement with the surface being cleaned means tending tomove said brush out of contact with said surface, whereby its frictional engagement therewith may be lesscned when the speed of said motor decreases.

6. A carpet sweeper compirsing a casing, a low-power motor carried by said casing, a centrifugally controlled radially expansble brush within the casing and normally out of contact with the surface to be cleaned and driven by said motor, and ada ted when expanded to contact with a sur ace to be cleaned, whereby the speed of said motor may be reduced, and means yieldably opposing the expansion of said brush and contractin .the saine when said motor speed is reduce to lessen its frictional engagement with said surface, whereby said motor speed may be permitted to again increase. f

7. A carpet sweeper, comprising a casing,-

5 bail connected to t e casing at the axis of said shaft and having a recessed portion and an arm provided with a slot, a motor removably extending into the recess and the slot and having a pulley on its shaft, and a belt engaging the two pulleys for trans 10 mitting' motlon from the motor to the brush.'

In testimony whereof, I aix my signature.

. FREDERICK J.l OSIUS. 

